The New Kid
by Hopeful Writer
Summary: Kari and TK are seven. Kari is the new kid at TK's school and she's kind of a geek. But TK wants to be her friend anyway. Will the peer pressure make him change his mind? A little Takari. Really bad title.


Disclaimer: A word to the wise: one who claims to own Digimon will inevitably be sued.

~~~~~~~~

HW: LiLVarajon! Raissa! EeyoreP just told me I make my little kids too smart. Prove her wrong?  
LiLVarajon: You want stupid little kids?  
HW: No, normal little kids. No super geniuses, no hidden powers, no masked emotions. Just basic, normal little kids.  
Raissa: Okay, then. This should be interesting. I've got an idea, though.  
HW: Okay. LVJ, why don't you do the shout outs, Raissa will do the summary, and I'll introduce it.  
LiLVarajon: Shout outs to Dreamer4, EeyoreP, Dark Gamer, Jarvis, Knight, Izzychick, Fallen angel of Hope, and Wolfie. That list keeps getting longer and longer. Special dedication to EeyoreP for inspiration. Though she didn't realize it, she inadvertently insulted HW, therefore making her respond in a bizarre, unpredictable way. Oh, and, Dreamer4? Please don't hurt HW. We accidentally bashed Matt. It was absolutely necessary. Sorry. Special thanks to Dark Gamer, too. We used his school day to tell TK and Kari's classes.  
Raissa: This is about TK and Kari at age 7, just before the digital world. Kari is the new kid at TK's school, and she's kind of a geek. TK wants to be her friend, but will peer pressure rule out his heart? Kind of a mix of HW's experiences with a little from A Walk to Remember. Quick word of advice: go see the movie, it was great. Read the book first; it was better.  
HW: Thanks, guys. This is The New Kid by Raissa and LiLVarajon.

~~~~~~~~

**__**

The New Kid

By: Hopeful Writer

"Look, you little punching bag, I'm not going to tell you again. Hand over the money!" Blond-haired Matt Ishida slammed a younger boy into the solid brick wall of the elementary school.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" a crowd chanted.

I hate to admit it, but I was part of that crowd. I thought it was wrong for Matt to beat up kids littler than he was, but I never had the courage to stand up to him. I was a follower. If I wanted to be friends with someone, but the others said he was a geek, I'd never even talk to him. It pains me to admit that, even so far in the future, but I was weak.

********

"TK, what's the matter?" I looked into the eyes of my best friend, Koori Netsui. His delicate black eyes stared back into mine as I shrugged.

"I don't know, Koori. Was it right for my brother to beat up that guy?"

Koori sighed. "Not this again. TK, dude, buddy, you've got to learn to go with the flow. It's a fact of life. Something about surviving the fit, or something like that. My older brother once told me about it. He said the strong people live and the weak people die. But he also said that weak people can be strong by not questioning the strong people. I hope that makes more sense to you than it did to me."

I shrugged. To be truthful, it didn't make much sense to me at the time. Koori's brother was 15. He was in _high school_ and he was really smart. He also told us cool stuff like the "surviving the fit" thing, whatever that meant.

********

The next day, a new kid came to school. She was in my homeroom and she sat next to me. "Hi," she greeted boldly, surprising me. "I'm Kari Kamiya."

I smiled slightly. "I'm TK Takaishi," I introduced myself. "Welcome to Odiaba Elementary School."

She smiled sheepishly. "I don't feel very welcome. Everyone's acting like I'm some sort of freak."

I felt my stomach lurch. The last time that had happened, the new kid had been so humiliated that he changed schools halfway through the year. But that kid was mean. Kari was... really nice. And kind of pretty, too. For a girl, that is. "They're just getting to know you. They'll settle down in a few days," I bluffed, lowering my eyes so she wouldn't be able to tell I was lying.

Kari shrugged. "If you say so, TK." I immediately felt guilty for not telling her the truth, but I didn't want to make her feel bad.

"Do you want to eat lunch with me?" I offered, blushing a little bit. When I felt my cheeks get hot, I became confused. I'd never been like this with anybody else before. Of course, I didn't hang out with girls very often, so maybe that was it.

Kari beamed. "That's really nice of you. Thanks."

"No problem. Meet me at the water fountain at the beginning of lunch?"

"Okay. Aren't we in the same classes?"

I shook my head. "We're in the same science, social studies, health, and special classes, but I'm in enrichment reading, language, and math."

"I'm in the enrichment reading and language, too."

"Oh. Then the only class we don't have together is math. That's the class right before lunch, though."

"What's the day like here?"

"Well, first is science, then health, then the special class, then math, lunch, recess, social studies, then reading and language, which is two periods long."

"Oh." Our teacher came in, silencing the class. But I noticed how some kids snickered at Kari. I felt trapped. And I was claustrophobic.

*******

I saw Kari at the water fountain before life and started to head over. Then I was stopped by a few of my friends. "TK, want to eat lunch with us?" Tommy Headronger asked. He was the coolest guy in school. He played peewee football and he had a bunch of friends. Nobody questioned him. If he asked you to eat lunch with him, you ate lunch with him.

Except today. "Sorry, Tommy," I muttered softly. "I've got other plans."

The others gasped in shock. Tommy's eyes narrowed. "Look, TK, if I say you're eating lunch with me, you're eating lunch with me. Who else would you eat with?"

I contemplated telling them. Finally I gave in. "I'm eating with Kari."

"The new girl?" Tommy gave a big hearty laugh. "That's just great. I'm being blown off for a _girl_. When will you grow up, TK? Guys aren't supposed to eat lunch with girls."

Koori sent a long look to me. He was studying me, reading me like a book. He was good at that; we'd known each other forever and a day. "Tommy, if TK doesn't want to eat lunch with us, that's okay. He can eat lunch with Kari if he wants to. Eric eats lunch with girls, and he's more grown up than _you_ are," Koori argued. Eric was his older brother.

Tommy turned to Koori with a puzzled look. Then he turned back to me. "Fine, TK. Eat lunch with the new girl if you want. But don't say I didn't warn you."

I cast a grateful smile at Koori before beating it out of there. "Hi," I offered to Kari, sneaking up behind her.

She jumped. "Hi," she returned. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."

"Nope, I'm here. I just had to talk to some people first."

"Okay. Let's go. I'm starving." As if to enunciate her point, her stomach grumbled loudly.

I laughed. "Okay. I'm hungry, too."

I bought lunch and found Kari sitting at one of the tables in the far back corner. "How come were so far back?" I wondered, used to sitting by the doors.

She looked surprised. "I always sit in the back. No one ever wants me to sit with them."

I looked away, trying to hide my sadness. I looked over to where my friends were sitting. Tommy was flicking mashed potatoes at one of the nerds, who looked as if he was about to cry. Koori was slumped in his seat, glaring at the football player. It was then that I began to realize something about my best friend. Living with Eric had helped him to get a better grasp on life.

"I'll be right back," I promised, ready to take a big step in my own maturity. Kari watched in silence as I stalked towards the sandy-haired jock. "Tommy," I declared, almost in a challenge. 

"TK," he returned neutrally. 

I glanced at the nerd he was tormenting. The poor guy was sniffling back his tears. "Leave him alone, Tommy."

Tommy nearly fell out of his chair in shock. "What?" he growled. "You can't tell me what to do. Considering the little geek you're hanging out with."

I could almost feel my blood boiling. "She's a lot cooler than you," I argued. Koori's head snapped up. That was the first time I'd ever disagreed with anyone, especially Tommy Headronger. Koori knew it. And he backed me up.

"Yeah, Tommy. You think you're cool because you can play football. My brother doesn't play football and he's the coolest kid in his school. It's because he's nice and he doesn't make fun of people or hurt them or anything like that. You're not cool. You're just a jerk."

"Shut up about your dumb brother, Koori. Kari is too a loser."

That made me mad. So I punched him. And ran.

********

I tore home after school, not even waiting for Koori or Matt. I scrambled down the block and opened the door to my house in fear. Tommy was really mad at me now, and that scared me. So you can just imagine how I felt when I heard a knock at the front door.

Matt's gruff voice floated up the stairs to me. "TK! Your friend Kari is here."

I sighed with relief as I ran down the stairs. "Hi, Kari," I greeted. "I thought you might have been Tommy."

She shook her head. "Not me. But that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Um, thanks. For... for sticking up for me."

I shrugged. "I didn't do anything. At least, not anything smart. Now Tommy's gonna kill me. Or at least beat me up."

"It was still really brave of you." I felt that annoying blush creep into my cheeks and I forced it down. Why did that only come when Kari was around?

"It was nothing. He's a jerk anyway."

Kari still looked nervous. "Well, I just came to say thanks, so... thanks." She placed a quick kiss on my lips and slipped quickly out my door.

"What was that?" I muttered into space.

Matt answered me. "That was a kiss, little brother."

My head snapped in the direction of his voice. "What's a kiss, Matt?" It was the first time I could remember asking information from my brother.

He smiled. "Well, TK, it's..."

I listened as he explained love and crushes and kisses to me. If that was what I got out of punching Tommy, it wasn't so bad. So when Tommy tried to beat me up the next day, I wasn't surprised when Matt protected me. 

A/N - The end! Yeah, it was pretty bad. I couldn't help the romance. It's just the way I am. Please review. I beg it of you. Right... so I'm gonna go now. Bye! *Walks away muttering about getting a good plot line*


End file.
